Tears of the Sun
by Winnifred Daquer
Summary: “Angel! Come back!” Sunstorm desperately groped at the red hand outstretched towards him once more. “Angel! Has Primus sent thee to save me?” Blue optics stare at him blankly before the image is gone and Sunstorm desperately wailed, clawing at the air.
1. Prisoner

Prisoner

oOo

Sunstorm coughed as he trekked across the vast desert wasteland, the sand scouring his paint off of his chassis. The heavy, restrictive collar around his neck didn't help with his small amount of comfort of being at least partially repaired. Shockwave had built the collar in order to absorb the radiation that his fusion core gave off (which was the source of the crippling radiation that he emitted constantly). As a result, the collar not only stopped all radiation, but it also hindered his healing capabilities. Not that he had very serious injuries currently, a cut across his shoulder and a minor puncture in his wing, but the fact that sand was constantly scratching over the wounds, clawing at them like a stubborn virus as his systems attempted to self-heal without the radiation to focus on.

Because of the unique configuration of his core, the radiation emitted had constantly eaten away at his impenetrable exo-armor, causing his self repairs to be in overdrive every second of every day. The fusion core also allowed him to have copious amounts of excess energy (more than any regular seeker anyway) which enabled him to forsake recharge or refueling except for maybe once a stellar cycle.

But with his fusion core dampened, the energy wasn't as strong or constant as it usually was.

Hence why the seeker was wearily stumbling through the vast, empty desert.

It was unlike any terrain he had ever seen. There was nothing but white, dust-like sand surrounding him, causing him to fall back two steps for every step he took forward, his legs sinking in to his knees.

_Sunstorm…_

That voice again. The golden seeker looked around, trying to locate the source. A flicker of a white and red form before him then it simply vanished.

"Angel! Come back!" Sunstorm desperately groped at the red hand outstretched towards him once more. "Angel! Has Primus sent thee to save me?"

Blue optics stare at him blankly before the image is gone and Sunstorm desperately wailed, clawing at the air as he trudged through the sand, sinking further and further. It was around his waist now, seeming to drag him down with sick, grainy fingers.

The angel appeared again and Sunstorm reached out, letting a sparkling-like series of clicks in distress.

"Angel!"

The sand was to his chest now, slowly pulling him into the darkness of the desert's oblivion.

_Shh… Sunstorm… I won't leave you…_

Then there was only darkness as Sunstorm's cries were cut off suddenly.

oOo

"Ratchet! He's crashing again!" First Aid called and the CMO jerked from his thoughts, turning away from the golden seeker to look at his assistant.

"We need to jumpstart his core again." Ratchet explained, getting two long metal sticks and tapping them together. The spikes were hooked up to a small battery and electricity crackled from the tips immediately. "Aid! Open his chest."

The protectobot did as told and immediately Ratchet plunged the sticks into the small opening in Sunstorm's spark casing where the fusion core crackled much like a regular spark.

"Clear!" Ratchet shouted and Aid pressed a button on the battery, sending a powerful jolt to the spikes and Sunstorm's core.

Ratchet had cared for Sunstorm for the past month, the immature seeker having fleeting kliks of consciousness at random intervals. He seemed to recognize Ratchet's voice and would unconsciously respond when the medic spoke to him.

"Clear!" Another jolt.

After so long, the science department was so close to creating a way to get rid of Sunstorm's radiation without killing the seeker. The theory was that they could replace the UM (Universal Model) spark-casing with one made of the same metal and wiring that Shockwave had created Sunstorm's collar (before abandoning the seeker to die in the Pacific Ocean). Once that was accomplished they could easily remove the fusion core and replace it with a normal spark from the store they had in stasis.

"Clear!" The energy readings were starting to flat-line and Ratchet felt panic swell in his spark.

The most difficult part would be transferring the fusion core to the improved casing without killing someone. Sunstorm's current spark casing was already very delicate, a single taser charge would probably melt the casing completely and expose the fusion core, not only effectively killing Sunstorm but also resulting in a radioactive nuclear explosion equivalent to a super nova. Perceptor was still working out the schematics of it, but his theory was that if they couldn't get the core out of the casing without destroying the whole planet that they would simply place the original casing inside the improved casing and work from there.

"Clear!" This jolt made the energy readings spike positively, showing a "spark beat" from the core. Ratchet paused, watching the readings for a moment before relaxing, extracting the spikes and stowing them away. "He's good."

First Aid looked up and noticed an expression on his creator's face that was unlike any expression he had ever seen Ratchet make. Face still in a tight scowl, his optics looked over Sunstorm gently, as if checking to make sure he was alright.

The moment lasted a minute before Ratchet's optics blanked and he went back to his office.


	2. Pain

Pain

oOo

Sunstorm whimpered, clutching his helm in pain. He was out of the desert, but this was not much better. He was on a blank, white landscape, surrounded by golden flower-petals that swirled around him like a yellow snow-storm.

This wouldn't have been so bad had it not been for the fact that every time the petals touched any part of his exoplating a sharp shock like being hit with a taser charge at full blast bloomed.

A distressed series of clicks escaped him, translating roughly into a code that a sparkling would send to its creator figure meaning "scared, distressed, hold".

It was a plea for comfort. Sunstorm felt another shock on his wing and trilled loudly, frightened by what was happening to him.

The white and red figure appeared again, holding out a red hand to Sunstorm.

_Calm down Sunstorm, I'm here._

"Angel!"

_Shhh… It'll all be fine…_

"Angel, don't leave me!" Sunstorm called, wailing loudly. A strong hand, substantial and firm, grasped his and he clung back, trying to keep a hold of sanity. "Angel, please, deliver me…"

_Shhh… You'll be fine…_

oOo

Ratchet had awoken to the sound of Sunstorm clicking and thrashing in his berth, the Medic looking up from the couch in his quarters. The other mechs of the Ark had refused to come into the med-bay when news of Sunstorm being treated there had reached them. Ratchet had then ordered several mechs to help him move the seeker into his quarters. Moving machines and the unconscious seeker had been a pain in the aft, but it had been necessary. It also gave Ratchet a chance to monitor Sunstorm during the night, when things could go wrong and he wouldn't be fast enough to help.

Sunstorm's "spark pulse" reading was erratic in fear as he thrashed, clawing at his own helm and wailing like a sparkling. Which was probably what he was.

Sunstorm had the body and general intelligence programming of a fully developed mech, but his basic programming couldn't be anymore than a five vorn old sparkling. That was the reason Ratchet had insisted on caring for the younger mech. Centuries of basic programming had been ignored, due to the war not providing any sparklings in his facilities, and when Sunstorm had been found, the radioactive seeker clicking and trilling softly in fear, those programs had flared to life once more.

What seemed to be worse was that Sunstorm's programs, though his processor was unconscious most of the time save for a few random klicks where he often was delusional, were beginning to imprint with Ratchet the same way a sparkling would.

"Shh… Calm down Sunstorm, I'm here shh…" Ratchet stroked the golden seeker's helm, sitting on the edge of the berth and holding the black hand in his red one. "It'll all be fine…"

"A-angel…" Sunstorm whimpered and Ratchet frowned. The seeker often murmured that name, seeming to associate it with Ratchet. "Don't leave me!" Golden optics glowed softly and Ratchet saw a glint of Sunstorm's sanity. The seeker searched his face, staring into blue optics with a childish fear.

Ratchet hugged Sunstorm gently, feeling the burning heat of the fusion core against his chest.

"An-angel…" Sunstorm murmured, black hands clinging to Ratchet the way a sparkling would to a creator figure.

Ratchet held onto Sunstorm until the optics offlined and Sunstorm clung to him like a lifeline. Slowly extracting himself from the embrace, Ratchet checked his chronometer and stood, walking out of his quarters to the med bay.

oOo

"How much longer until the casing is ready?" Ratchet asked, pacing the labs impatiently.

"A few more cycles at the most, it wont be long, before the end of the day." Wheeljack and Perceptor were watching the medic warily, Prowl standing beside them, stoic as ever. Ever since Sunstorm had been found, half deactivated and with the strange collar on his neck, Ratchet had devoted everything he had to the golden neutral. Wheeljack looked at his best friend and sighed softly.

"How is he?" The inventor asked the medic, who stopped his pacing and planted his hands on the table firmly.

"He's beginning to regain his consciousness, slowly but its happening. He's caught in limbo, so to speak." Ratchet rubbed his brow with a shaky hand and shuddered. "He'll wake up screaming and it takes me hours to calm him, and even then he dislikes being left alone."

"You're becoming too involved, Ratchet." Prowl stated icily. "You have to be logical. You may not be able to save this patient. It might be a more merciful option to simply euthanise-"

Prowl never got to finish.

In a fit of rage, the medic had thrown one of Wheeljack's tools at the SIC, causing Prowl to reboot his optics and look at the medic in shock. Ratchet grabbed another tool and stepped forward, waving the tool underneath Prowl's nose.

"Now you listen to me, you over-grown vaccumm cleaner." Ratchet growled, sounding like a grizzly bear as he glared at Prowl. "Sunstorm is a living thing. He can feel, he can think and he can think too. He is enduring the worst pain in the known universe right now because you people are all trying to destroy him because you don't give a frag!"

"Ratchet, you have assaulted an officer, you should be thrown in th-"

Another conk to the head and Ratchet threw Prowl over the lab table, his forearm locked across Prowl's throat firmly.

"I will not hesitate to rebuild you into a 1970's buick station wagon and lock your transformation cogs." Prowl was about to respond, but Ratchet's arm pressing against his vocalizer made only static come out from the strain. Ratchet's blue eyes bore into Prowl's and the medic spoke in a soft growl. "Have you ever woken up in the night to the sound of a mech screaming in pain? Have you ever heard him crying like a lost sparkling? Have ever had him cling to you as if you were the only thing keeping him sane?" Ratchet stared into Prowl's eyes and the SIC shuddered at the sight. "He's nothing more than a sparkling in a warrior's body. He doesn't know what he did was wrong, it was all he knew. He's in constant pain because of that Primus-damned fusion reactor in his spark chamber." Pulling away, Ratchet glared at Prowl, red hands fisted at his sides. "When you're a medic, that sort of thing breaks off a piece of your spark every time you see it." Ratchet was shaking slightly as he stared blandly at Prowl and the scientists. "I wont euthanise him because that would be murder. Unless there is no more hope, I will continue to work on him." Prowl regained his ability to talk and looked at Ratchet with a haughty expression.

"Then what? He'll come online and see you as his savior? Ratchet what do you expect to _gain_ from this?"

Ratchet looked at Prowl firmly and spoke calmly, which caused the SIC to feel a twinge of nervousness in his spark.

"I don't expect thanks. I don't expect it to be easy. But I can hope that when he comes online he will join us and help us win this war." Ratchet turned to leave, glancing over his shoulder when he reached the doorway. "Despite everything he's done, he is an innocent. I do not want him to die unjustly because I simply gave up on him."

oOo


	3. Panic and Phobia

Panic and Phobia

oOo

We didn't start a fire

Its been burning

Ever since the world started turning.

oOo

Ratchet stared down at Sunstorm as the radioactive seeker lay on the surgery's operation table, chestplates open and body supine. In a few breems he'd be up to his elbows in this mech's internals and radiation. He'd be touching the most dangerous part of Sunstorm: His spark-casing and fusion core.

"You're sure that these things will work?" Ratchet asked, fisting his hands, covered by gauntlets thick enough to hinder him. Ratchet would be working with the gauntlets and also a pair of tweezer-like tools that had a very faint magnetic tip, enough to make handling the wires and other internals a bit easier. Wheeljack nodded.

"They should, when exposed in the radiation chamber they survived."

That was a little bit reassuring, but Ratchet didn't mention that Sunstorm's fusion core had given off enough radiation to kill Skyfire.

"Time me, if I stay in there for more than an earth hour tell me to stop so that I wont melt my hands."

Wheeljack nodded and left the surgery, Ratchet now alone with Sunstorm. He knew that in the control room there was a crowd watching this and it was probably being shown on the Ark's Rec-Room television. Mechs had been whispering about this and wondering what Ratchet was thinking, this was probably entertaining to them.

Activating a timer, Ratchet glanced at it before beginning his work. Grabbing the advanced spark casing, Ratchet unhooked a connection from Sunstorm's spark chamber and connected it to the new one.

Twenty wires. One minute per wire. Ratchet glanced at the clock. He had forty more minutes to complete this. The easy part was finished. Rubbing his chevron, Ratchet glanced at the machines, seeing that Sunstorm's pulse was still steady. Good.

Ratchet grabbed the spark in stasis, beginning to repeat the process of before.

"Blurr." Ratchet called and Wheeljack entered with the speedster. "I have three wires left. Make that two. When I hand you this casing I want you to run as fast as you can to Silverbolt. He knows what he's supposed to do with this." Blurr gave a quick nod and affirmative. "Ready?" Ratchet held the last wire and Blurr nodded. Ratchet quickly took out the casing and handed it to Blurr.

"Go!" Before he could even think the word Blurr was gone, bolting away. Ratchet looked at the screens and sighed in relief. Sunstorm was fine. It was a success.

"Ratchet!" Wheeljack pointed to the screens and the sparkpulse was erratic as Sunstorm came around to consciousness. Ratchet looked down at the seeker and saw golden optics flickering to life. They didn't glow as brightly as when the fusion core was inside Sunstorm and Ratchet sighed in relief. Sunstorm jerked upward, fear on his face as he let out a loud, long strand of trills, clicks, beeps and squeals that a sparkling in distress would emit.

"Sunstorm, calm down." Ratchet reached forward slowly and the seeker stared at him with wide optics, still as a deer caught in the headlights. Suddenly Sunstorm shrieked in fear and launched himself at the door, thrusters powering up as he shot through the door. "Get that seeker!" Ratchet called and raced after Sunstorm, Wheeljack close on his heels.

oOo

He was trapped, where was he? Primus he was lost! Confused! Everyone was faceless and gray, like dead mechs. He couldn't hear their voices. Sunstorm screamed as several of the faceless mechs charged towards him and he turned, trying to go back, but there were the other two mechs behind him. He couldn't think, couldn't understand. What was going on?

Two pairs of hands on his wings made him scream in fear as he struggled, getting pulled back and pinned to the ground by two mechs. Sunstorm clicked in distress before his world went black. Before he fell into stasis lock he managed to scream one word.

"ANGEL!"


	4. Purity

Purity

oOo

Sunstorm groaned as he came online in a brig cell. Across from him he caught a glimpse of red and white, golden eyes rebooting and looking slowly up to the figure's face. Ratchet would have tried to reach through the bars, but didn't dare as he watched Sunstorm online. The younger mech slowly propped himself on his elbows, looking up at Ratchet with wide eyes.

Nobody else seemed to see the innocence in those golden panels.

"Angel?" Sunstorm asked, standing up and slowly approaching Ratchet. The medic was silent. Sunstorm would definitely recognize his voice and he didn't want the golden mech to realize this just yet. As far as Sunstorm was concerned, Ratchet had kept him captive for the past months. Ratchet was the enemy now.

Reaching into his subspace, Ratchet pulled out an energon cube and pushed it through the bars onto the floor before the seeker before turning and walking out of the brig.

oOo

Sunstorm greedily ate the cube before curling up in a corner, reaching up to feel the collar around his neck.

And stopped.

The collar was gone. No constricting metal and wiring around his throat. Nothing to contain his radiation. Then Sunstorm realized that nothing had melted. His Angel hadn't even flinched. There was no pain. Sunstorm felt his chassis and jumped at the strength of the pulsing of his spark. Had he… Been excited? In the presence of his Angel? It definitely hadn't been fear or anger… Sunstorm looked towards the brig, shuddering as he let his hand drop from his chest and into his lap.

oOo

Ratchet shuddered as he sat in his office, thinking of those golden optics staring at him. His spark pulsed faster at the thought of holding that body against his, protecting him and stroking that perfect, innocent face. This was not what he should be thinking of!

What on earth was wrong with him?!

Ratchet growled when he felt a flutter in his spark and frowned. That wasn't a good thing… Standing up, Ratchet went into the med-bay where First Aid and Swoop were both working on cleaning old tools, checking inventory and regular chores.

"Morning Ratchet." First Aid, ever chipper, smiled behind his mask and Ratchet nodded, going over to the spark scanner. "What's up?"

"I'm feeling unusual feelings in my spark and am trying to figure out what they are." The doctor explained concisely.

"Well, from the reports, you said that Sunstorm had imprinted with you, like a sparkling?" First Aid looked at the scans, frowning behind his mask at the readings. It seemed like there was another piece of a spark with Ratchet's, sharing the warmth.

"Yes."

"Wouldn't that affect it?"

"Not the way that this is affecting me…" Ratchet read the scan and frowned even more. There was no way… Running the scan again, Ratchet looked at the results. Then again. Then again. By the eighth time Ratchet sat down on a medical berth and scowled at the machine maliciously.

Sparklings bonding with their creators wasn't unusual, but it wasn't something that often happened ever since the war had started. When a sparkling imprinted with a creator or creator-figure, they would instinctively want to be as close as they could to their creator. Sometimes, unconsciously, the sparkling would begin to form a bond with their parent that resembled more of a sparkmate bond than a creator-sparkling bond.

Ratchet slumped and rubbed his optics.

Why him?


	5. Author's Notes

Replies to comments

oOo

Author's Notes: Alright, I have received a few PMs where people believe that this is plagiarism of Ironical Jesters "Golden". I would like to clear up that this has nothing in relation to that fic. I just read it this morning in my free time and would like to point out that it is an amazing piece of Sunstorm x Ratchet writing and should be read by any who enjoy this pairing.

The reason that this fic may sound similar is because it is a logical couple (in my opinion). My reasons for thinking this are:

Because of the amount of radiation from Sunstorm's fusion core he would be in constant pain and as a medic it is part of a doctor's code of ethics to help the injured.

Sunstorm must be very childish, and probably because he knows no other existence than that of a weapon he would not understand that such actions as being judge, jury and executioner is not right and just.

Because of the fact that Sunstorm is an "undecided", the Autobots would probably try to repair him. Also, because of Ratchet's ethics, he would not allow Sunstorm to be euthanised (despite controversial ideals, an ethical doctor will refuse to euthanize a patient because it is a form of murder).

I would also like to point out that this fic is going to be based off of a series of hallucinations and moments of sanity on Sunstorm's part so it will eventually become a very convoluted story.

Just wanted to clear this is up with a few commentors so that I wont be arrested for plagiarism.

Also: READ "GOLDEN"!!! IT IS AN AMAZING STORY AND INCREDIBLY WELL WRITTEN!!!

And on a side note I will be doing the rewrite for two of my first fics: From the Abyss and Inner Wars will soon find themselves as being edited and updated (respectively).


End file.
